Kirk's Television Enterprise Deck Plans WIP

EXTRA! I've dug out my old Deck 3, and they are posted below. The 2001 plans contain various errors and odd interpretations that need updating, but the one thing I was keen on then (and am still) is that the radius of the curved corridor is kept the same as on the show. Hence this odd setup:

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I did not include Pike's cabin in this Deck 3, but was primarily guided by the chase in Let That Be Your Last Battlefield. Rec Room 6, Deck 3 (from Charlie X) is present, and I decided to turn the area under the teardrop's yellow rectangle into a cargo bay (with the yellow rectangle as a cargo bay door).

The chase that Bele & Lokai undertake is plotted below:

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Lokai starts on the red spot and follows the yellow path (turning to brown) which crosses the original route and carries accross the cargo bay, onto the ladder in the southern corridor and down to Deck 4. It is on Deck 4 where I placed the "Crewman's Lounge" and "Recreation Room 3"

So, there you go! hope that is interesting (or at least an amusing diversion)

If I understood correctly you were under the impression that most of Lokai's and Bele's running in Let That Be took place on Main Deck 3? When I recently saw the episode again, I was under the impression these two were somehow limited to use the turbo lift only down to Deck 3 and from there and further down used ladders, ramps or stairways (we didn't get to see) to get to the lower decks and eventually to a transporter room in the saucer.

For obvious personal reasons, I really want to make this deck look great and at the same time keep it functional, accurate and in accordance with the other E-Decks and in particular the circular arrangement (which we gonna see again on Deck 9).

Ever since I was a kid, I had always wondered what’s behind these 5 horizontal windows on the engineering hull (guess that’s where my interest in blueprints comes from) but I had not imagined that I’d have to answer that for myself one day.

Originally I had always believed this to be some kind of mess hall for the engineering crew. Then I thought these might be first class quarters with a fabulous outside view (for whom?). Finally, given the popularity cruise ships enjoyed in the last decades, I was thinking along the lines of a promenade deck which could be a good compromise between the aforementioned two.

I felt this corridor from the alternate edit of Where No Man Has Gone Before to be quite an eye-opener for multiple reasons:

1. This is not a closed corridor. The multiple shadow casting of the by passers suggests an open space with bright lights (in this scene we are at red alert, night time illumination would be off!).

2. We can clearly see Sulu and Dr. Boyce entering from that open space, so there’s some extra space right to the corridor.

3. In the scene where Gary Mitchell passes through this corridor we can clearly see two plant pots behind the semi-transparent wall panel (left in the shot illustrated) which suggests crew quarters which is further enhanced by the black cabin number signs (below the name plaques).

And last but not least, the spacing between the overhead artificial gravity units is unusually wide but seems to appear wide enough to fit the panoramic exterior windows in between the beams of the ship’s structural skeleton (where the overhead AG units end).

Below the windows (walking or sitting height?) there could be little tables like in a train car or fast food restaurant where you could have a coffee and/or a snack which eventually would make these corridors “Ten Port” and “Ten Starboard” (assuming that TNG’s “Ten Forward” could be rooted in some kind of Starfleet tradition).

For WIP purposes the corridor on the port side would be the one Sulu and Dr. Piper used. Notice how the angle of the corridor roughly aligns to transit into the circular structure of the corridor (we don’t see the “Environmental Engineering” ladder on the opposite side of the WNM corridor, thus might be entitled to ignore its existence, here).

On the starboard side, however, the angle piece of the corridor matches rather perfectly the angle of the reactor corridor featured in In a Mirror, Darkly (second part). It could be that this is instead the corridor Gary Mitchell used in the alternate edit of WNM (and not the one on Deck 12) to make his way to the bow and eventually to the turbo lift transfer point on Deck 8 where I assume he caught up with Kirk and Spock.

Another issue on this deck is the question where to place the (WNM) transporter (i.e. if you concur with my theory in the deck plan annotations).

First, I placed it at the port bow, but obviously the starboard stern is another option, too and I think that would be a better location (although at the expense of crew quarters):

I don’t exactly understand the difference between a “promenade” and a “wraparound” deck on a ship, but someone told me, that the promenade deck has an unobstructed view while on a wraparound deck you have the lifeboats in your sight. Lifeboats? Where are the lifeboats on this deck? Obviously in Star Trek the transporter room performs most of the functions a lifeboat has in real life, so it almost appears logical to rather have it close to one promenade or wraparound corridor, I’d dare to say.

As this deck is currently an experimentation battleground, I also added some variations of the Season One corridor end with the ‘bulb’ next to the transporter and various sickbays (from WNM).

As for the crew quarters it appears these would look best in an alignment parallel to the central axis (stern, illustrated) and in a circular fashion (echoing the corridors from below and above) further to the bow (not yet illustrated).

At 3 o’clock the inner corridor is from the scene in The Ultimate Computer (Dr. Daystrom arrives having used the tri-ladder, Kirk and McCoy arrive coming from the port side).

Does there really have to be a corridor connecting to the promenade corridor on the port side? On second thought, I'd now say no, the multi-purpose room near the warp engine room one deck above can house a stairway which Kirk and McCoy simply used to get down to Deck 10 (of course in an arrangement not obstructing the first ladder to the Emergency Manual Monitor).

First of all, I realize you're trying to make use of the sets as seen literally on the show, but it seems to me that there are too many turbolifts. Why should they crew need so many lift stops? It just seems to be taking up more deck space than would be efficient.

Next, I'm not sure you need so many transporters either. Having one fore and aft on deck 10 and 14 seems like overkill. Also, your Deck 10 Aft transporter has a turbolift run directly below it, where I would have expected to find transporter machinery.

I do like the sickbay ward near the transporter, it makes sense to have a "satellite office" in the secondary hull. But the Deck 14 transporters/sickbay wards make more sense to me than do the Deck 10 facilities.

The Shuttlecraft on Deck 13 seem awfully close packed. I would expect that, even when stowed, there would be a meter or two of walkway surrounding each craft, for inspections and maintenance purposes; even though most heavy duty maintenance and repairs would be done on some sort of shop/garage set-up, I suppose there must be some things that can be done in the parking stall. Whatever the shuttlecraft equivalent of an oil change or that sort of thing.

Also, the Deck 13 shuttle storage makes me wonder about how well the radial/circular corridor set-up utilizes the deck space. I think you're going to end up with lots of odd little nooks and crannies that will be weird to fill.

Also, to address your "promenade" idea where nearby transporters are equivalent to lifeboats... The reason why lifeboats are near promenade/wraparound decks, is because it's a broad open deck space where the passengers and crew can assemble and load up the boats which have to be there in order to be lowered to the water's surface. As there would be no requirement to have transporters near the outer hull, I see no need to have them near to a promenade area. Especially since they only offload people from the ship six at a time, I suppose any corridor would be as good a place to assemble the crew as a promenade deck.

I have mixed emotions regarding how many meandering corridors there are. On one hand, it does seem to be an inefficient arrangement and poor utilization of the deck space. However, there are references in the show to the lower decks being maze-like, so that might work out. I especially refer to Deck 10... there's all kind of goofy corridors there but it looks believable in an odd way.

Also, what anti-gravity units are you referring to? Do you mean those trusses running across the corridor ceiling? If so, what evidence is there that these have anything at all to do with gravity? If it's just your own take on it, that's cool, I was just wondering if there was anything more than that...

Having said all that, I'm super excited to see this project develop. I'm certainly going to steal a few of your ideas for my own project. I like how you have Deck 14 with the transporters and smaller medical ward. And I've been thinking of using a circular corridor in my own take on the secondary hull, so it's fascinating to see how it plays out in your project.

If I understood correctly you were under the impression that most of Lokai's and Bele's running in Let That Be took place on Main Deck 3? When I recently saw the episode again, I was under the impression these two were somehow limited to use the turbo lift only down to Deck 3 and from there and further down used ladders, ramps or stairways (we didn't get to see) to get to the lower decks and eventually to a transporter room in the saucer.

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Certainly they began their chase on Deck 3 - then there is some random corridor running before Spock announces that Lokai and Bele have arrived on Deck 5 (where the Transporter Room seems to be). My 2001 plans spread the action through decks 3, 4 & 5, although the first couple of shots were located on Deck 3. But I have a whole new setup in mind for my revised versions, so moving on to...

I like this notion, it gives a good justification for the long corridor as well as the ridiculous number of windows on the secondary hull (which is supposed to be an Engineering hull, so why the need for the huge number of viewports?

Anyway, to clear up your solution to the promenade - did you mean that the corridor is like a double-wide area, with chairs, tables and portholes hidden from view on the right?

The way the camera is set up, this is at least a possibility!

Of course, small rooms would be a more sensible design (in case of porthole fractures)

...I realize you're trying to make use of the sets as seen literally on the show, but it seems to me that there are too many turbolifts. Why should they crew need so many lift stops? It just seems to be taking up more deck space than would be efficient.

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I agree as well - but for whatever reason, Starfleet personnel seem to require multiple lift stops at frequent intervals - this lazy oddity crops up not only in TOS but TMP, TNG and VOY as well.

"First of all, I realize you're trying to make use of the sets as seen literally on the show, but it seems to me that there are too many turbolifts. Why should they crew need so many lift stops? It just seems to be taking up more deck space than would be efficient."

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Wherever I can, I'll be happy to eliminate turbo lifts and/or have "deck elevators" instead. Of course, it would take up less space to have one central turbo shaft running along the central axis but then you'll need to split the antimatter pod assembly in the middle.

"Next, I'm not sure you need so many transporters either. Having one fore and aft on deck 10 and 14 seems like overkill. Also, your Deck 10 Aft transporter has a turbolift run directly below it, where I would have expected to find transporter machinery."

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We do have a lot of transporter room variations throughout the show and I'm not really an advocate to rationalize every difference with refits and upgrades but would rather like to keep this to a minimum.
The producers envisioned four transporter rooms (like the ones seen on the show) plus others.

But you're right that having two on Deck 14 seems like overkill. Since the one from Elaan of Troyius should be in the saucer (suggested by the lift movement: down from the bridge and then horizontal) the one from Charlie X and This Side of Paradise could / should be there as well.

"I do like the sickbay ward near the transporter, it makes sense to have a "satellite office" in the secondary hull. But the Deck 14 transporters/sickbay wards make more sense to me than do the Deck 10 facilities."

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The Deck 10 facilty was just an experiment to illustrate that this ward has to connect to one of these WNM corridors as seen in the episode. It also appears to consist only of 2 or three beds as in WNM Dr. Piper visits Mitchell with a portable medikit and then leaves the facility. I think this one will go to Deck 13 to the security section, after all, you might have felons that require medical attention (But what shall I do with the Science Library and the briefing room close by - move these up to Deck 11 and assume Dr. van Gelder climbed a few ladders?)

"The Shuttlecraft on Deck 13 seem awfully close packed. I would expect that, even when stowed, there would be a meter or two of walkway surrounding each craft, for inspections and maintenance purposes; even though most heavy duty maintenance and repairs would be done on some sort of shop/garage set-up, I suppose there must be some things that can be done in the parking stall. Whatever the shuttlecraft equivalent of an oil change or that sort of thing."

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Because there is this corridor in the center of the hangar deck (I belong to the "hangar deck-flight deck distinction" faction) there is really nothing I can do to create more space for shuttlecraft storage (my deck plan drafts are already based on the assumption that the engineering hull is 388' in length).

"Also, the Deck 13 shuttle storage makes me wonder about how well the radial/circular corridor set-up utilizes the deck space. I think you're going to end up with lots of odd little nooks and crannies that will be weird to fill."

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There are plenty of mission-specific and maintenance components that could probably go there.

"Also, to address your "promenade" idea where nearby transporters are equivalent to lifeboats... The reason why lifeboats are near promenade/wraparound decks, is because it's a broad open deck space where the passengers and crew can assemble and load up the boats which have to be there in order to be lowered to the water's surface. As there would be no requirement to have transporters near the outer hull, I see no need to have them near to a promenade area. Especially since they only offload people from the ship six at a time, I suppose any corridor would be as good a place to assemble the crew as a promenade deck."

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I did like the analogy / allusion to our ships but if you feel it should go elsewhere, I'll be glad to have some more cabin space for the engineering personnel to make these hard-working guys happy and start the day with a glorious exterior view the moment they leave their cabins.

"I have mixed emotions regarding how many meandering corridors there are. On one hand, it does seem to be an inefficient arrangement and poor utilization of the deck space. However, there are references in the show to the lower decks being maze-like, so that might work out. I especially refer to Deck 10... there's all kind of goofy corridors there but it looks believable in an odd way."

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Hmm...I've heard this before from a friend to whom I presented deck plans of the Rebel Blockade Runner who remarked that I turned a ship of riddles into a ship of corridors. But I'm just trying to be faithful to what's on screen (or the conclusion from it) and also to keep the amount of corridors down wherever possible or to have more space in use between these. Please bear in mind that Deck 10 is just a draft which illustrates multiple options, I intend the final result to be symmetric in nature.

"Also, what anti-gravity units are you referring to? Do you mean those trusses running across the corridor ceiling? If so, what evidence is there that these have anything at all to do with gravity? If it's just your own take on it, that's cool, I was just wondering if there was anything more than that..."

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Yes. And want to make clear that I had this idea long before I saw the ENT episode In a Mirror, Darkly where the AG units came into strategic use. I think that many of us have grown up taking artificial gravity on a fictional spaceship for granted but I could imagine that space age audiences of the 1960's might have wondered less about the speed of the Enterprise but rather about the miracle of artificial gravity.
In TOS we have to notice that all the ladder booths have a clear restriction message saying "environmental engineering personnel only" and a working platform in close proximity to these trusses:

Artificial gravity is the job of the environmental personnel and that restriction label clearly says IMHO that other personnel is not authorized to screw with the artificial gravity controls. After all, who is the most important guy on the ship: The chef or the plumber? No, it's the environmental guy because without proper gravity you'll find it somewhat difficult to eat and/or use the restrooms.

"Having said all that, I'm super excited to see this project develop. I'm certainly going to steal a few of your ideas for my own project. I like how you have Deck 14 with the transporters and smaller medical ward. And I've been thinking of using a circular corridor in my own take on the secondary hull, so it's fascinating to see how it plays out in your project. Keep up the great work!"

On that screenshot with Sulu climbing up and the sign about "Environment Engineering Personnel only", how do you know that it doesn't mean that the ladder goes up to a room that contains the machinery/controls (like EMM) and it doesn't have anything to do with the trusses?

As we have moved up further there's less deck space especially overhead. The turbo lift at 7 o'clock is the one who delivered Kirk, Spock and McCoy to this deck in The Ultimate Computer (and is also the transfer point to a vertical shaft tube going to the lower decks):

clearly tells us that a turbo lift has to be there, too, though Billy Blackburn is probably not to happy about that in this scene (I like the turbo lift "exit only" idea inspired by the blue doors only turbo lifts from The Naked Time).

While the text notes on the draft cleverly hide my current lack of imagination what to put port and starboard of the warp engine room there's obviously one issue I'm having with the GNDN "energizers", "power converters" or "reactors" (in Day of the Dove Spock located the alien entity near "reactor number three". This could also refer to the matter-antimatter reactor of the warp engine room below the deck floor as TOS suggested repeatedly that the warp nacelles themselves contain matter-antimatter reactors. I strongly recommend the thread of Blssdwlf which focused on this issue and I link to page 35 where I attempted a thread overview http://www.trekbbs.com/showthread.php?t=119751&page=35. If you're a Techno-Trekker and haven't been there yet, you may think it's already Christmas ).

The different positioning of the "energizers" or "power converters" in Season One is something I'd attribute to the time pressure of production and/or intent to use the same set to represent either the impulse engine room (e.g. Space Seed) or the warp engine room (e.g. Enemy Within, Naked Time).

But by Season Two (and definitely by the end of Season Three) the producers should have made up their mind how many of these "energizers" they'd like to have in the warp engine room:

I take these set dressing discrepancies as a strong hint, that these energizers are not permanently fixed to the floor of the warp engine room and find it almost inevitable not to conclude that these have merely been brought up from the lower energizer corridors for maintenance works (thanks to ENT for having made that suggestion available!).

Another oddity I couldn't ignore was Chekov's strange report in The Tholian Web that he had been to "life support". Strange, because the editing of the episode suggested "life support" to look like this:

We know from By Any Other Name that the set used for "life support" was the Auxilary Control Room and Mara located "life support" in Day of the Dove on (main) Deck 6.

The studio set we see is, of course, the Emergency Manual Monitor with an energizer in the left background. However, the panel looks rather empty compared to the tinkering in the previous screencaps and we can't really tell whether the ladder Chekov stands on ends here or not.

There are multiple options:
1. Chekov has just been to the Environmental Manual Monitor one level below ("life support" according - sic - to Chekov) which houses the Artificial Gravity (AG) section often audible in intercom reports.
2. The Environmental Manual Monitor is adjacent to the Emergency Manual Monitor on the upper engineering level (i.e. Engineering Level 1)
3. The Environmental Manual Monitor is one level lower but we are looking through the cage grid not to the starboard side (into the engine room) but to the port side (and down onto an energizer on Deck 10).

I assume in crew's lingo this part of the warp engine room would be nicknamed "the cage" and I think it makes a lot of good sense to have these important guys of the AG section located in such a caged facility. Should there be a sudden loss of artificial gravity the AG personnel wouldn't just float away but they'd be able to rather literally stay in touch with their control panels and could maneuver between the EMMs to restore ship's power and - of course - artificial gravity.

I thought I'd be able today also to feature the draft for Engineering Deck 8, but that will have to wait 'til later.

"On that screenshot with Sulu climbing up and the sign about "Environment Engineering Personnel only", how do you know that it doesn't mean that the ladder goes up to a room that contains the machinery/controls (like EMM) and it doesn't have anything to do with the trusses?"

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I think that the controls for artificial gravity should be close to where it's generated, hence a ladder because otherwise a locked wall panel (like the atmosphere control panels) would make more practical sense. And these strange surface textures also appear in the turbo lift cars where gravity is an issue, therefore and according to Matt Jefferies' "identification by association" credo I believe these to be associated with AG and the trusses.

Hmm. Usually with "identification by association" there should be something more consistent "associating".

The "strange surface texture" is not on all of the truss. "The Corbomite Maneuver" and "Mirror, Mirror" has some examples of some truss just solid. These surfaces are also not present in critical locations, such as the engine room or other internal rooms where you'd expect to see a whole grid of them to support the deck above (or the current deck via the ceiling.) It's the lack of this consistency that makes it difficult to prove that the truss with surface is part of the Artificial Gravity system, IMO.

"These surfaces are also not present in critical locations, such as the engine room or other internal rooms where you'd expect to see a whole grid of them to support the deck above (or the current deck via the ceiling.) It's the lack of this consistency that makes it difficult to prove that the truss with surface is part of the Artificial Gravity system, IMO."

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Sustained. But then let me ask you how you'd rationalize these in-universe (for production purposes they were shielding studio lights). I don't think 23rd Century technology requires such trusses for deck support so what function should these have, if not for AG?

At this point, I don't know why those truss need to be there. On one hand, they do have fantastical materials in TOS, on the other hand, the interior rooms like the cabin, briefing room, and engine room all contain some type of visible framework.

Perhaps the truss functions as part of the framework to keep the corridors "stiff" in the same way the other rooms have their frames and braces? Or they are physical bridges carrying circuits from one section to the other since it seems like on the TOS Enterprise all the pipes and circuits run inside a wall or under the truss (the pipes) and the floor itself seems rather thin (or has nothing running below it.)

At this point, I don't know why those truss need to be there. On one hand, they do have fantastical materials in TOS, on the other hand, the interior rooms like the cabin, briefing room, and engine room all contain some type of visible framework.

Perhaps the truss functions as part of the framework to keep the corridors "stiff" in the same way the other rooms have their frames and braces? Or they are physical bridges carrying circuits from one section to the other since it seems like on the TOS Enterprise all the pipes and circuits run inside a wall or under the truss (the pipes) and the floor itself seems rather thin (or has nothing running below it.)

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I agree with this completely. I assume the actual deck between the floor of one deck and the ceiling of the deck below to be just a few inches thick and the artificial gravity is produced by plating contained therein. Piping and wiring conduits would be located in walls (which tend to be super thick...in fact to contain the stagehands who operate the doors, but in-universe, I assume to accommodate utilities that the floors are too thin for.)

The trusses are IMHO the skeletal structure of the ship. Piping and wiring is run mainly around the corridors so the trusses appear somewhat bulkier over the corridor as they cover piping which runs into the walls but not along the trusses in the individual cabins and compartments.

Why the funny wavy Mylar panels? I say it's decoration pure and simple. Blssdwlf makes a good point when he says that if these are the gravity generators, why does every other area lack this kind of device? But, I would also point out two other data points. The shuttlecraft is a compact enough vehicle, that it must use some sort of gravity plating as I have described above. (And is described in numerous non-canon works of technical fiction.) There's no reason a similar system wouldn't be in use aboard the mothership. Also, we see the same wavy Mylar patterned panels in other places, most notably the transporter chamber. Some have suggested that this is some sort of future-y material/equipment vital to the transporter's use, but we do see transporters which lack it, off the top of my head, the 2-man unit in Mr. Lurry's office in "The Trouble With Tribbles." Also, what mechanical/electronic purpose would the corridor trusses and the walls of the transporter chamber have in common? In real life, it was an exotic looking shower curtain cut to shape and applied to the surfaces to dress them up, and I propose that in-universe, it's basically the same thing.

Also, since we're referencing "In A Mirror Darkly" I would point out that when evil Archer orders the gravity turned up to 20g to crush the "Gorn" we see a plate reading "GRAV GRADIENT PLANE." I posit that since this plate is on the floor, it possibly relates to equipment found within the deck itself.

"Also, since we're referencing "In A Mirror Darkly" I would point out that when evil Archer orders the gravity turned up to 20g to crush the "Gorn" we see a plate reading "GRAV GRADIENT PLANE." I posit that since this plate is on the floor, it possibly relates to equipment found within the deck itself."

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...or the position of a truss right below?

I can live without these trusses having any AG function as the environmental guy on the ladder could merely be adjusting the gravity level of such floor plates. Again, if you have "atmospheric system" wall panels for the environmental crew to adjust (which include air and probably heat).

I felt the height and overhead ceiling of the gymnasium (a re-dress of the engine control room studio set) suggested this room to be somewhere in the engineering hull. I interpreted the overhead illumination in the second gym room to be a helpful clue (it's blue):

This is TOS and this blue illumination of the Defiant's "cathedral" tells me that the matter-antimatter reactor(s) / plasma lines are either on Standby or off (same in the ENT episode), so we may be seeing the light of the plasma line running up to the saucer hull behind that upper grid of the gymnasium.

The corridors outside the Auxilary Control Room (ACR) are quite an enigma - as Blssdwlf has recently pointed out in his thread - but I take the shot from Way to Eden as a reference:

A lot of scenes are rather strange. In The Doomsday Machine Kirk and landing party intentionally move to ACR but almost seem to miss it (there's also has to be a second door in the corridor outside used by Scotty).
The scene in The Changeling is even worse. They just leave one of the most deadly mechanical devices unattended in ACR and have a stroll through the (transporter room set) corridor possibly in the vicinity (the script of this episode has some odd moments. Enterprise absorbs the equivalent of 90 photon torpedos but then Kirk wonders how Nomad was able to absorb the energy of 1 photon torpedo "Mr. Spock, there must be damage to your instruments" "No captain, there's heavy damage to this episode's script" and we'll see a fixing attempt once the first motion picture will be produced...)
And according to And the Children Shall Lead the port corridor outside ACR is the circular corridor set (sorry, no chance to keep this deck entirely free from circular corridors ):

Originally I wanted to keep the corridors here straight and have the turbo lift transfer point to the bridge in WNM on this deck's starboard side. I currently don't have any idea where to place this WNM corridor in the saucer hull because of the strange angle of the last corridor segment and felt locating the transfer point on the upper deck of the engineering hull might at least help to explain the rather short ride to the bridge:

As it looks now, I seem have two options:
A) to put the WNM corridor someplace else and have the starboard side to feature an equally circular corridor segment or
B) rotate the circular corridor segment so that the tri-ladder will come close to the port side but leave enough space for the Starnes kid and the security crewmen to walk there.

Now, you can also take the deck plan drafts to move from Engineering Deck 8 down to the lower decks and check the turbo lift locations and transfer points on these lower decks.

I'll be looking at possibilities to optimize Engineering Deck 10 and will be back once I have a new result before I move into the saucer hull. Enjoy!

I have been thinking about those iridescent shower curtain panels on the corridor trusses and the back wall of the transporter platform. Earlier I had claimed they were just decorative, but, after some idle brainstorming, I thought of an interesting idea...

Maybe they're an air filtering system. As air passes over these panels, certain impurities are drawn out of the air and trapped onto the panel. The ship's atmosphere cycles through the entire volume of the ship and every room attaches to the corridors, so all the air would be moved past these panels pretty regularly. It would make sense to have these air impurity collectors on the transporter platforms as the ship is regularly beaming stuff up from strange new worlds, certainly a volume of native atmosphere would come up too, and you don't necessarily want that floating in with the ship's scrubbed air.

"I have been thinking about those iridescent shower curtain panels on the corridor trusses and the back wall of the transporter platform. ... Maybe they're an air filtering system. As air passes over these panels, certain impurities are drawn out of the air and trapped onto the panel."

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Brilliant! I guess radioactive particles count as impurities and that crap has to go somewhere where it's neutralized, especially when I think of the de-contamination procedure on the transporter platform in "The Naked Time".

This could also explain the strange red glowing effects of the transporter platform panels when they accidentally beamed Gary Seven aboard in "Assignment: Earth". Makes you wonder by what kind of particles he was surrounded during his transport.

I currently don't have any idea where to place this WNM corridor in the saucer hull because of the strange angle of the last corridor segment and felt locating the transfer point on the upper deck of the engineering hull might at least help to explain the rather short ride to the bridge:

To drag focus back to this stage for a moment, I was re-watching WNMHGB the other night and it dawned on my that this is in fact a VERY short turbolift ride to the bridge - around 11 seconds in fact!

Ordinarily turbolift travel times should not be taken too seriously, since (as has been pointed out elsewhere) they can vary depending on which route is taken by the turbolift car, and especially by intervening traffic of other travellers.

However, several times in Season 2 the ship was almost totally deserted, leaving the issue of traffic null and void. Of note here is Kirk, Scott & Spock's journey to the Bridge in By Any Other Name. It starts in Engineering and the journey takes a full 43 seconds, not unreasonable given the distance, really. I feel confident we can take this figure as a "stake in the sand" for a typical travel time from the secondary hull to the bridge.

At other times, a journey from the Bridge to Deck 5 (sickbay, captain's quarters etc) is around the 10-30 second mark (Mirror Mirror, Amok Time, Corbomite M.) It is certainly more suggestive of the turbolift corridor in WNMHGB being in the saucer than in the Secondary Hull

Finally, I should also include the journey from the Bridge to Engineering in Ultimate Computer (20 seconds). Once again, the ship was empty. If this is the whole journey, it may be indicitive of an Engineering section in the saucer, around deck 6 (or 7). Or it may be that we only see the gang for part of their journey (we never see them enter the turbolift at the start).

"However, several times in Season 2 the ship was almost totally deserted, leaving the issue of traffic null and void. Of note here is Kirk, Scott & Spock's journey to the Bridge in By Any Other Name. It starts in Engineering and the journey takes a full 43 seconds, not unreasonable given the distance, really. I feel confident we can take this figure as a "stake in the sand" for a typical travel time from the secondary hull to the bridge."

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Scotty and Spock use the turbo lift ride as an occasion to inform Kirk about their sabotage / suicide plan and I'd think they deliberately slowed down the speed of the turbo lift to make sure they told the Captain everything he needs to know before they arrive at the bridge and meet their antagonists.

"At other times, a journey from the Bridge to Deck 5 (sickbay, captain's quarters etc) is around the 10-30 second mark (Mirror Mirror, Amok Time, Corbomite M.) It is certainly more suggestive of the turbolift corridor in WNMHGB being in the saucer than in the Secondary Hull."

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I agree. Maybe the strange Main Deck 3 corridor seen in "Let That Be..." is a possible candidate (though there's no transporter room in the vicinity).

"Finally, I should also include the journey from the Bridge to Engineering in Ultimate Computer (20 seconds). Once again, the ship was empty. If this is the whole journey, it may be indicitive of an Engineering section in the saucer, around deck 6 (or 7). Or it may be that we only see the gang for part of their journey (we never see them enter the turbolift at the start)."

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I remember from a recent watching that they did enter the turbo lift at the bridge and travel straight to the engine room (no horizontal turbo lift lights, unfortunately). But because of the visible corridor walk the engine room couldn't be in the saucer where it would block turbo lift travel to the engineering hull. I firmly believe Matt Jefferies anticipated this problem and therefore gave us an (impulse) engine room arrangement (Season One studio set) to circumvent this problem which you did so beautifully illustrate: http://s757.beta.photobucket.com/us...if.html?&_suid=135524399275008759794199719881